Best gender combination for cat harmony?

[Meid]

I've had a few male/female combos and they have always fought.

I have more recently had 2 female cats and they got on fabulously - only play fighting.

Sadly, one died this week. We were not going to get a replacement so soon but the cat left seems absolutely lost without her playmate.

So, should we look for a female cat?

Is there something in my theory that male/female combos don't get on whereas a female/female combo will get on with one another?

Or is it just luck?

Any thoughts appreciated.

I'd hate it if we believed we were getting her a playmate and it turned out to be the opposite.

Also, any advice on introducing a new cat to the home would be appreciated.

Many thanks.

We inherited two male cats, and then another one moved in (he did his own introductions!). Subsequently we've had male/female sibling combos. The first two loved each other dearly (but we did adopt them at 11) and the current pair ignore each other most of the time. We always felt that when one cat died the other was really down about it, but our vet said that cats don't really like living together and the remaining cat once adjusted was probably happier on their own so we have tended to wait until both cats died before getting another.

nooka is right any house with more than one cat is called a forced colony, i have four cats one brother and sister who adore each other and two boys who came at different times from Haworth cat rescue and mine all seem to get on ok with each other apart from the odd spat, but at the rescue when someone comes in who has a resident older female we always reccomend either a non dominant younger male as this seems to work better due to matriarchal superiority in a house or a kitten of either sex as the kitten will always be subordinate to the older female

We've got a pair of brothers, they have always been together so that's no use to you.
A long time ago, we had one cat then the shelter phoned and asked if I would have her sister. I agreed. It was mayhem. First cat loathed her and lots of fights ensued. In the end, we had to take cat two back. We had given it six weeks and neither were happy.